New Limits for 'Forever Chemicals‪'‬ Highlands Current Audio Stories

First national standards for local drinking water
The Environmental Protection Agency last week issued the first national standards for a class of chemicals that shut down the drinking water supply in Newburgh and have been detected at lower levels in Beacon and Cold Spring.
The EPA standards issued on April 10 cap at 4 parts per trillion the legal limit for PFOA and PFOS, two types of per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS). They have been called "forever chemicals" because of their duration in the environment, and the human body.
The new maximum for PFOA and PFOS is more stringent than New York State's 10 parts per trillion. In addition, the EPA set limits of 10 parts per trillion for three other PFAS chemicals and declared that no level of PFOA and PFOS in drinking water is without risk.
PFAS chemicals, used for decades in nonstick cookware, water-repellant clothing and other consumer products, as well as firefighting foams, have been linked to various health problems, including cancer, low-infant birthweights and high cholesterol.
The operators of as many as 10 percent of the 66,000 drinking-water systems covered by the standards nationwide may have to take action because their PFAS levels exceed the revised guidelines, according to the EPA. Based on recent tests, Beacon and Cold Spring have not reached the threshold where action is required.
According to the most recent report available, the level of PFOS measured in Beacon's water supply topped out at 2.4 parts per trillion in 2022, and PFOA levels were measured at 1.88 ppt.
The most recent report for Cold Spring, provided by the Putnam County Health Department, shows PFOA levels of 1.59 parts per trillion in the fourth quarter of 2021. Neither PFOA nor PFOS was detected in any other test that year.
Newburgh's primary water supply, Washington Lake, was shut down in May 2016 because of high levels of PFOS (140 parts per trillion); the city began buying water from New York City. Authorities said the contamination came from runoff from Stewart Air National Guard Base that contained the residue of firefighting foams.
More recently, the Putnam Valley Central School District installed a filtration system in a well that supplies its elementary school after tests showed levels of 38.3 parts per trillion for PFOS and 23.3 ppt for PFOA. The district traced the problem to the Putnam Valley Fire Department's use of foams at its firehouses.
Jonathan Jacobson, whose state Assembly district includes Beacon, is a longtime Newburgh resident who consumed the city's contaminated water before it closed Washington Lake. "The need for these new standards is not just theoretical," he said. "It is personal to me and my neighbors."
Newburgh, Putnam Valley and Dutchess County are among the municipalities suing 3M, DuPont and other companies that manufactured and used the chemicals.
3M, which said in December 2022 that it would cease making PFAS by the end of 2025, announced last year that it would pay $10.3 billion over 13 years so operators of public systems can treat contaminated water and test for the chemicals. Twenty days earlier, Chemours, DuPont and Corteva said they would pay a combined $1.2 billion into a fund to settle claims.
In addition, the federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Law enacted in 2021 includes $1 billion for public water systems and the owners of private wells to test their water for PFAS and treat contamination.